


^-./ 




ibc §t0ltt in the O^Ioutls. 



A THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE. 



1863. 



^ttie i^igltt in tJxt (t>\i:nn&$ 



THANKSGIVING DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED BEFORE TIIE UNITED CON'GREOATIOKS OP THE 



Reformed Dutch, First Presbyterian and "Westminster 
Churches, of Utica, N. Y. 



NOVEMBER 27. 1862, 



In t li e K, o f*o i»iwecl Dutch Oliwroh, 

BY S.M. CAMPBELL, 

PASTOR OF WESTMINSTER CHURCH. 



UTICA, N. Y. 

CURTISS 4 WHITE, PRINTERS, 171 GENESEE STREET. 
1862. 



CORRESPOTs'DENOE 



Utica, November 28, 1SG2. 
Rev. S. M. Campbell: 

Dear Sir: The undersigued, in common witli the largo audience that were 
assembled at the Reformed Dutch Church yesterday, listened with unmingled 
satisfaction to the Discourse pronounced by you on that occasion. They believe 
its publication would be both useful and interesting, and respectfully solicit a 
copy for that purpose. By furnishing it for publication, you will confer a benelit 
on the public, and afford us personally much gratification. 



Very respectfully and truly yours 



WM. J. BACON, 
T. R. WALKER, 
J. E. WARNER, 
E. A. WETMORE, 
G. A. FOSTER, 
J. S. PECKHAM, 
LEWIS LAWRENCE, 
C. HURLBURT, 
M. M. BAGG. 



Hon. W. J. Bacon, T. R. Walker, Esq., J. E. Wauneh, Esq., and others : 

Gentlemen : The Discourse which you ask for is at your disposal. If, when 
printed, it shall have the effect of making any one see more clearly the hand of 
God in our present national struggle, and of deepening the impression that wo 
are to be regenerated and not destroyed by the visitation, I shall not regret that 
I have permitted it to go before the public in this Ibrxn. 

Very sincerely, 

S. M. CAMPBELL. 
Utica, Dec. 4, 1862. 



DISCOURSE. 



Jon XXXVII : 21, 22. 

And now mou SCO not the bright light which is in tho clouds; but tho wind 
passeth and cloausptli them. Fair weather cometh out of tho uorlh. 



The picture before us iu the upeiiiiig of tliis passage is one of 
gloom. The sky is curtained with heavy vapors, the landscape is 
darkened, and people are everywhere chilled and depressed. And 
although the sun is shining ujion the clouds, and perhaps an occa- 
hional beam of light pierces through and reaches the earth, no one 
seems to observe the token or to gather from it any hope. 

Before the day ends, however, the scene changes. The wind 
passeth over the clouds and cleanseth them, or cleareth them 
away. Fair weather, or as the Hebrew has it, a golden sky, 
appears in the north, rapidly enlarging till the remnants of mist 
that still linger along the horizon are wreathed into garlands to 
beautify the scene. 

Such a picture, in some respects at least, may serve to illustrate 
the condition of the public mind on the recurrence of this annual 
festival. In the language of the Proclamation which brings ns 
together, it is " from the depths of National affliction " that we 
come "to own our dependence upon the Most High." And 
the year for which Me are to-day to ofter thanks and praise, has 
been one "fraught with the heaviest sorrows," one to be "num- 
bered among the dark periods of history," and one whose sad 
" record has been graven on many hearth-stones." 

It is a gloomy day for our land ; and if there be any " bright 
light " in the clouds that hang over us, very many do not yet 
behold it. War is u})on us in its most terrible form. And from 
the most opposite points of view, men are predicting that the 
contest will close as unhappily as it began. The rebellion never 



6 

will be snbduecl, they say. There is imraiaent danger even of 
another rebellion in the hitherto loyal sections of the land. 

It is a hajDpy thing that at such a time we should be called upon 
to set apart a day for Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty 
God. Luther used to say, when things looked dark around him, 
and poor Melancthon was turning pale, "Come let us sing the 46th 
Psalm : 

" God is our refuge, ever near, 

Our help in tribulation ; 
Therefore, His people will not fear. 
Amid a wrecked creation." 

And Paul and Silas, in their midnight imprisonment cheered 
their hearts in the same way. So let us sing our song to-day ; 
taking, if possible, some cheerful view of the present state of 
aifairs, and if there be any bright light in the clouds, or any 
prospect of fair weathei", lifting up our eyes to behold it. We 
shall find some things to be thankful for, I think, even in such a 
time as this ; and a little cheerful thought will both please God 
and strengthen our i-ighteous cause. 

I. At the foundation of all encouraging reflection at such a time 
as this, we must settle well in our minds the doctrine of the abso- 
lute sovereignty of God. We must call up from His book that 
half-forgotten or half-understood declaration, that He " worketh 
all things according to the counsel of His OAvn will." , And when 
we hear our Savior saying that " the very hairs of our head are 
all numbered," we must at least compel ourselves to believe that 
God is not indifferent to the si)ectacle when a great nation is 
struggling for life. The affairs of our country are in the hands of 
the Lord. And Avhen we have reached a thorough conviction of 
that truth, we shall see a bright light in the clouds. 

Such a conviction is more easily attained now than in ordinary 
times. When aftairs glide on smoothly, and cause and eSect, like 
two wheels, w^ell matched and w^ell oiled, i)lay quietly into each 
other, men grow skeptical. They conceive a high regard for 
natuie and for human develo})ment, but they doubt whether God 
interposes in any of our affiiirs. Li such times as these, however, 
the steady continuity of things is broken in upon. Forces sud- 
denly spring up, of which no one had any conception, and they 
play upon society in tornadoes and hurricanes. " The wind blow- 



eth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof but canst 
not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth." There is just\ 
that mystery, and just that majesty, and just that almightiness in 
the present course of events, which we naturally ascribe directl^ 
to God. 

Moreover, God is economical of His agencies, so that when He 
inaugurates so great a disturbance of public affairs as we now 
observe, we may conclude that He is about to accomplish some 
very important result. You will observe it among the miracles 
recorded in Scripture, that the supernatural agency is never intro- 
duced to effect anything which could be done by common means, 
and that it is never wrought up one degree higher, or pushed one 
degree further than is necessary. Nor can we conceive it of God, 
without derogation to His character, that He should shake the 
earth and tempest the sea, as He is doing now, for any trifling- 
purpose or insignificant design. Thus, in the very magnitude of 
the struggle which convulses this nation, we have a token, as soon 
as we come fairly to see God's hand in it, that there will be com- 
fort and joy in the end. ' These great armies that confront each 
other, these implements of war that hurl their missiles like the 
thunderbolts of- the gods, this iron-clad armament that pushes its 
way up our rivers and sweeps along our coast, — these have been 
called into existence, and are being Avielded for a divine purpose. 
There is a divine argument in this Avar, adjusted to those great 
moral issues which are involved in it. There has been a divine 
handling of the elements of this Titanic strife, God coming out 
into the foreground, riveting our astonished gaze, and more than 
once making this whole land to feel that He held us in His grasp. 

Here then, is one "bright light " on these clouds. Never was 
there a clearer case since the days of miracles, of the special inter- 
position of the divine Providence, than this of our land. And the 
magnitude of those agencies which God is here wielding are such 
as foreshadow a new chapter in our history, it not a new cycle in 
the history of mankind. " Great and marvelous are thy works. 
Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways thou King of 
Saints ! » 

H. Although God has deeply afflicted us. He has done it in 
such a way as to indicate a purpose not to destroy us. It l)ecomes 
us indeed, to speak modestly on this jioint ; and yet tlit-retire ccr- 



tain leading features of this national trouble which assuredly do 
not look like mere retribution. 

1. It may be said, I think, without the least partisan feeling, and 
without much danger of exciting partisan feeling, that God 
has shown His kind purposes toward us, by placing at the head of 
our nation, at such a critical period, so just and good a man. For, 
so far as I know, whether it be among those who complain that 
the war now upon us has been too feebly conducted, or among 
those who believe that rash and unadvised measures have been 
adopted, there is but one opinion as to the per so7ially honest pur- 
pose and sincere patriotism of the present incumbent of the Presi- 
dential chaii*. And it is the pronounced judgment of this nation 
to-day, that as Abraham Lincoln went into office Avith a reputation 
for singular integrity, so has he maintained himself above all just 
suspicion of corrupt dealing or design. He may not be thought 
a great man, or a fast man, or a polished man, or a handsome man, 
but the people do believe that he is an honest man. 

Now, this is a circumstance that speaks loudly of the kind pur- 
pose of God. We have been passing though a most critical 
period ; one of those periods which give large opportunity to am- 
bitious usurpers. The people have been generous. They have 
been ready to ofter not only their means and their eftbrts to sus- 
tain this government, but what has been more, to hold in abeyance 
for the time being, their own dearest civil rights. They have by 
their representatives placed in the hands of the Chief Magistrate 
almost despotic power ; and had they been seized with any strong 
suspicion against his loyalty, there have been times when they 
would have hailed with acclamations the Napoleon, or the Caeser, 
or the Cromwell, who would have hurled him down from his seat, 
and have carried the nation to victory over everything like con- 
stitution and laws. It has been the very salvation of our country 
that we have had .at its head in these times, a man Avho, as he 
would not betray the trust imposed in him, so he has retained tlio 
confidence of the people even in their greatest impatience. 

I know indeed, that a man may be honest and yet be ill-advised. 
But sheer honesty is often of itself a good adviser. " The integ- 
rity of the upright shall guide them. " I know also, that a man 
may be honest and yet be feeble ; nay, that he may be so over- 
caroful not to do wrong as to create a wrong on the other side. 
But when the public men of this nation make any mistakes in that 





way, I think that we ought to be very patient witli them. It 
would be a rave tiling, I am sure, to see a man at Washington, 
occupying an important office, who was over-careful not to do 
wrong. 

And that feeble character which some are disposed to assign to 
the Chief Magistrate whom God has set to guide us through 
this storm, is something which history will certainly dispel. Presi- 
dent Lincoln may be veiy slow, but when he does bring down his 
long arm, it reaches a great Avay. And that noble address 
of his to the Border State men, and that Proclamation of his 
which takes effect on the 1st day of January next, will stand to 
his honor when many a more polished state paper Avill have been 
consigned to a Avell merited oblivion. 

Now I say that if God had intended to have this nation perish 
in its present trouble, it does not seem as if He would have placed 
just such a man at the head of it, at just this juncture. And I 
bespeak here once for all, your confidence in, and your prayers to 
God for him, who bears upon his brawny shoulders the whole 
weight of this great nation, and who has perhaps " come to the 
kingdom for such a time as this." 

2. God has delivered us so many times from imminent f)eril since 
these troubles began, as to indicate a kind purpose toward us. 
We must, Avhen we think of the history of the past two years at 
least conclude that our nation has not yet sinned beyond forgive- 
ness. We must see that God waits yet to be gracious, if no 
more ; and that although the stroke may fall by and by which 
shall destroy us, there is room for repentence yet. Nay, we can 
scarcely fail to see more, for it does seem unaccountable that God 
should have interposed every time that we have l)ecn in great 
peril and have brought us deliverance, unless he intends to bring us 
to repentance, and so unto a national salvation. 

Observe some of these deliverances. I suppose that no one now 
doubts that there was imminent danger at the very inauguration 
of the present Chief Magistrate, that the government would be 
broken up. To assassinate the President elect, and to seize the 
Capitol, and before the people could rally, to take from them 
their only national rallying point and constitutional leader, were 
but single items in that dark conspiracy which was there and then 
to be consummated. And in the circumstances, it seems marvel- 
ous that it was thwarted. On the 4th day of March, 1861, this 



10 

great Republic had its grave all dug, and it Avas only because God 
thwarted the counsels of the wicked men engaged in the scheme 
that it was not hopelessly buried. 

At a little later day, the same thing was nigh being accomplished 
in another way. None of us need be reminded of the massacre 
of our troops in Baltimore, and of the manner in which our men 
afterward crept round through by-ways and obscure routes to 
reach the Capital ; and how at that very time the rebel flag was 
flying in sight of Washington, and rebel batteries were planted 
on the heights, within shelling distance of the Presidential man- 
sion. It makes one's cheek tingle to recount these things, and 
excites a feeling that perhaps Christians ought not to cherish. 
But God did not leave us under this humiliation. It was not long 
before Baltimore found a ruler, nor long before our forces crossed 
the Long Bridge. The first forward movement cost us the life of 
Col. Ellsworth ; but in his foul assassination we saw only a type of 
the fate which had been pref)ared for the Republic itself. 

Then came that terrible disaster at Manassas, when the whole 
army that we had gathered was virtually annihilated ; and God 
saved us even out of that. Then appeared that leviathan of naval 
architecture at Hampton Roads, tossing oiF the cannon balls from 
its sides like pebbles, crushing through our frigates, and sending a 
wave of alarm to our utmost sea-ports ; and God saved us out of 
that. Then came the retreat of our wasted, broken columns from 
the Peninsula; then demonstrations on Cincinnati and Louisville ; 
then the actual invasion of Pennsylvania and Maryland. But time 
fails me, and I close the tremendous catalogue by once more say- 
ing, out of all this the Lord delivered us. Yes, every time the 
crisis c'me. He was there ; sometimes saving us in such ways that 
positively we could see nothing else but God in it, and keeping \i» 
" alive as we are this day ! " Why, it seems to me as if it could 
scarcely have been made plainer by a voice from Heaven, that 
God loves this nation and means to take care of it, than it is by 
the repeated voice of these astonishing deliverances ! And if the 
people of this land, after all that has occurred, can not find in the 
bare reflection that we have a national existence yet, and are not 
carved up among foreign powers like Poland, or buried alive like 
Hungary, or blotted out like Babylon, a reason for thanksgiving 
and praise to Almighty God, they must be utterly insensible. " If 
these should hold their peace, the stones would cry out." 



11 

3. In spite of all our discouragements and reverses, God has 
wonderfully strengthened and prospered us against our enemies. 

I know that there are those who can not see that our arms have 
upon the whole been successful in this "war ; but such persons are 
laboring under a very unnecessary delusion. We have had a brave 
enemy to fight, for they have been themselves Americans. And 
what was greatly to our disadvantage, it took us a long time to 
learn that they were brave. But we have found it out at last, 
and they probably have made :i similar discovery with respect to 
ourselves. And when I think what a condition this government 
was in, for anything like a military struggle when this rebellion 
was precipitated upon us, I am filled with amazement, that against 
such an enemy we should have accomplished so much as we have. 

At the time these troubles began, this nation lay water-logged in 
the mad Avaves. What little army we had — not more than three 
or four times as many men as this one county has sent to the war — 
was cut up into small detachments, and was mostly scattered along 
the frontier, and Avas officered by men, half of whom stood ready 
to pull down the flag under Avhich they had Avon all their glory. 
Our navy — if so pitiful a shoAV of armed ships could be called a 
navy — Avas nearly all in foreign seas, and when it should come 
back, each officer Avould have to be questioned before Ave could 
know Avhether he Avas for us or against us. And as for the treas- 
ury, what little there had been in it had mysteriously disappeared, 
and the government had just been out begging for a little money, 
Avhich it Avas glad to get by paying tAvelve per cent, per annum. 
There Avere traitors in the national Congress, and traitors in the Su- 
preme Court, and traitors in the Cabinet, and traitors everywhere. 
And this imperial Republic, like the man that Avent down from 
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, lay exjiosed by the 
Avay-side, stripped and wounded and more than half dead, and no 
good Samaritan came by to take it to an inn, to pour oil upon its 
Avounds, or to give so much as "tAvo pence" to save its life. 

NoAv, starting from that point, measure if you can, the distance 
Ave have come to bring ns where Ave are to-day. Almost a million 
of men stand armed to enforce the behests of the government, 
and, till quite recently, every one of these men a A'olunteer. A 
navy has been created, that France and England both have looked 
on to study. And both army and navy are magnificently 
equipped and Avell officered ; Avhile our treasury, Avhich pays out its 



12 

million a day, ie replenished by the quick sale of its eeven per cents, 
at a handsome premium. 

But some one will inquire what good there is in all this after 
all, unless we gain some victories over the rebellion ? Material 
will never save us unless we use it. To which I reply, it has been 
used with the most signal results. Perhaps more might have 
been accomplished, but that is no reason for closing our eyes 
against what has really been done. 

Most of you have heard of a little place down at the mouth of 
the Mississippi, called NeAv Orleans. In 1812 the British navy 
ti'ied a hand at capturing the town. And one Andrew Jackson, 
with a few raw troops, part of them negroes, and a breastwork of 
cotton-bags, held it in spite of all they could do. Just fiity 
years later, the same place, fortified by the most scientific 
works, and garrisoned by a force of brave men, is taken by our 
arms, at a time when half the power of the nation had been lost 
by rebellion. And although it was said that the place could never 
be governed if it was taken, it is generally allowed at the present 
day that New Orleans is governed. I do not know exactly how 
large a place Sebastopol is, nor how well it was fortified against 
the attack that v^^as made upon it a few years ago. But I do 
know that it took England, and France, and Sardinia united, a 
year and a half to reduce one-half of that toAvn, Avhile our own 
nation, with one hand tied, reduced Ncav Orleans, alter every- 
thing was ready, in less than three days. And when the present 
popular impatience shall have subsided, and a calm historic view 
of the events now transpiring shall be taken, the conquest of the 
one great city of New Orleans — and the governing of it, which I 
esteem equally a marvel — will be sufficient alone to crown our 
arms with glory. 

But certainly we need not dwell on this one event long. Others 
like it rush upon the mind ; and above the great heart-wail of this 
nation, the victory-shout is sounding down the year. Island 
Number Ten, away on the far Mississippi, lifts up its voice, and 
Roanoke amid her storms and sands and billows answers it. Port 
Royal thimders out her anthem, and the echo comes back from 
Fort ]3onaldson. And Corinth, and Pea Ridge, and Newbern, 
and Fort Henry, and Antietam, and a host of other names, join 
the chorus of high praise to Him Avho alone giveth us the victory. 



13 

Surely there must be some mistake about it when men call this 
entirely an imsuccessful war ! 

This, then, is the argument to show that God does not intend 
by these troubles utterly to destroy us. It is three-fold. In the 
first place, He has set at the head of this nation for this critical 
time, a thoroughly honest, and, in some respects, a very capable 
man. In the second place. He has delivered us again and again 
from the utmost national peril, always appearing for us just at the 
moment of our necessity. And in the third place. He has created 
for us an army and a navy, which have already won for themselves 
an imperishable renown, and which the crowned heads and Cab- 
inet Ministers across the water regard with very serious attention. 
Now this, I say, does not look as if he intended presently to 
destroy us. It does not mean that. It means that He loves this 
nation and intends to save it ; :uid that He has sent our present 
afflictions upon us, not as a crushing judgment, or a mere retribu- 
tion, but as a fatherly chastisement, under which avc shall rej^ent 
of our sins, and by which we shall be sanctified for the great mis- 
sion upon Avhich He has sent us forth. There is a "bright light" in 
the clouds, if men would see it. And golden skies will again shed 
their benedictions on this land, "The Lord reigneth." And 
though " in a little wrath He hid His face from us," He is saying 
to us by the very method of his chastening providence, " With 
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord 
thy Redeemer." 

HI, As there are Providential indications that our Republic is 
not to be destroyed by the calamity now upon us, so are there 
some reasons to suppose that we shall bo very greatly benefited 
by it, I would not indeed, be too confident in such a statement, 
but if the conclusion that this rebellion is not intended to destroy 
us be valid, what is now affirmed would seem to follow without 
further argument. For when God sends a chastisement, and not 
a bare judgment upon men. He says Himself, that it is not for 
His own pleasure, but for our ])rofit. And again He assures us 
that though " no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous 
but grievous, yet afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of right- 
eousness to them that are zeroised thereby.'''' 

It has pleased God to send some of the greatest blessings upon 
the world which mankind now enjoy, in the chariot of wai*. 



u 

He has declared that lie will make " the wrath of man to praise 
Him," and it is true that those things which we most highly prize 
on earth, and for which the gratitude of our hearts oftenest 
goes up to the great Father, have been heralded in by the rush 
of armies and the clash of arms. The introduction of Christianity 
itself was on this fashion : Alexander first conquering the world 
to give it a language in Avhich to utter the spiritual thought of the 
New Testament, and the iron Romans coming after, to rivet the 
nations under one abiding sovereignty, which should hold them 
quiet till the heralds of the Cross could go forth and scatter upon 
the blood-soaked soil the good seed of the kingdom. 

This general remark has been singularly illustrated in the great 
wars of our own country. This is a new continent yet, but we 
have already had upon it three eras of war previous to the present 
struggle. And in each of them God has sent a great blessing 
upon the land. First came the era of the Indian wars, opening 
with slight collisions between detached tribes and individual set- 
tlements, but gi-adually assuming more formidable proj)ortions, 
until the aboriginal paganism of the continent was combined in 
one iirand efibrt to exterminate all Christian civilization from these 
shores. These opposing elements were matched against each 
other in deadly strife, and more than once the advantage seemed 
to be with the savage. But God so ordered that here Christian 
civilization was maintained. And in those wars it was settled 
once for all that this magnificent heritage should pass into the 
hands of a people who would improve it, and plant upon it His 
church and kingdom. I know that wrongs were committed in 
those Indian wars, but as to the great issue now stated, the wrong 
was upon the head of the savage, and he accordingly went down. 

Overlapping this earliest war era, and somewhat combining with 
it was a second struggle. The Christian civilization of this country 
was of two distinct types. First, the Protestant type, mostly 
imported from England, and under the protection of the British 
crown. Secondly, of the Romanist type, and claiming its chief 
affinity with France. And in what was called the old French 
war, these elements were seen struggling for the supremacy, as 
the savage and the white man had struggled before. The design 
of the French was not merely to maintain a foothold here, but to 
fling round behind the colonies a chain of military posts which 
should sweep the British rule completely from the continent. The 



15 

issue was again fairly made up. The struggle again was for life 
or death. And it ended as the pi-evious struggle had done — in 
the supremacy of the righteous cause. God meant something 
better for this land than to plant upon it that type of civilization 
of which Mexico gives us an example ; and in that old French war 
He settled it beyond recall, that in this country the Roman Cath- 
olic element should be always subordinate and subservient to the 
purer faith. 

Our third war era is better understood, and needs less to be 
dwelt upon. Having given this good land into the possession of 
a Christian people of the Protestant type, it only remained to pro- 
nounce us of age and competent to the responsibilities of an inde- 
pendent nation. England doubted Avhether we were of age, or 
at least wanted our help a little longer in the family. But God 
said "Let my people go;" and they went, following "the pillar 
of cloud and the pillar of fire," and passing a redder sea than that 
in which Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned. 

Such have been the wars we have gone through. By the first, 
God took this glorious inheritance from the savage and gave 
it over into the possession of our fathers. By the second, he laid 
his bands upon that great religious despotism which had cursed 
the old world, and was blightiug some of the fairest sections of 
the new, and said, " Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further." 
And by the third, he made us an independent nation ; giving us a 
form of government, which, for ourselves, we claim to be the best 
the world has ever known. These are great blessings ; and the 
price paid for them was great. And it would be but a continuance 
of the plan by which He wrought out for us these good things in 
the past, should the present struggle also conduct us to some 
great benefit, not otherwise to be attained. 

It may seem premature to make any specific mention of such 
benefits while the contest is yet waging ; for, as a general rule, 
God's providences can only be interpreted, after they have some- 
what passed by. The bow in the cloud does not shine to those 
who are in the midst of the hail and thunder, but only to such as 
are privileged to behold it from a distance. Still on the supposi- 
tion that we are to come out of our present troubles with benefit, 
it is not diflBcult to point out certain particulars in which that 
benefit will be manifest. Some such arc indeed already quite 
visible. 



16 

1. We are learning some lessons of religion by this war. Days 
of tranquility have their dangers, which we are sometimes little 
aware of. And during the halcyon period from which we have 
just emerged, a whole brood of religious errors have insidiously 
crept in upon the public mind. One of these is, that in the King- 
dom of God everything is governed by kindness. In some sense 
this doctrine is true, and therefore it is the more dangerous ; for 
error, standing stark and alone, would never deceive the world. 
And in this case the falseness of the doctrine is scarcely observed, 
except in the application. But if God governs his kingdom 
only by kindness, what becomes of a large portion of his word, 
and what have we to do except to speak of his kindness to all 
mankind ? So ran the beautiful theory, and it very naturally had 
growth at a time when there was nothing before us to give any 
vivid illustration of the necessity of vigorous measures in the 
administration of law. And even evangelical men were falling 
into it, and the sterner doctrines of the Bible were being as quietly 
dropped as the doctrine of the divinity of Christ was some years 
ago in New England ; and the stamina and vigor of our Chris- 
tianity Avere being endangered ; and the bad influence was ex- 
tending itself downward into the plane of the social moral- 
ities, misadjusting long-established and fundamental principles, and 
leaving us, instead of the Law and the Gospel of this grand old 
Book, a religion of suavities and sympathies, of lavender and 
rose-water and delicate perfumes. 

Now the breaking out of this vvar has taught us some lessons 
on this subject not soon to be forgotten. We have seen what the 
exigencies of a mere earthly government may require, and can 
more easily understand what should be requisite in the great gov- 
ernment of God. Lavender and rose-water are at a discount. The 
sympathies and suavities of a govermnent toward rebels in arms 
against its authority, are, to use a current phrase, "about played 
out." We see, and have been made to feel in all our bones^ 
that where insurrections occur, and especially -vVhere they become 
formidable, there is a demand, above all things, for a display of 
energy. And until the lesson we are learning, shall have lost its 
influence with us, one would say, that it should not seem impossi- 
ble that in the administration of so wide a government as that of 
God, a rebel that remained incorrigible should be hurled down to 
absolute and hopeless ruin. With the necessities of this govern- 



17 

ment before us, as a type, and the astounding barbarity of this 
rebellion in mind, as a fact, the ])eople of the land Avill be likely 
to feel that there is, or ought to be, somewhere in God's universe, 
such a place as Hell. 

So are we also learning at the present time the importance of 
those nice distinctions of doctrine which are sometmies under- 
valued, the very names. Federal and Confederate, by which the 
warring sections are distinguished, embodying volumes of tnith 
on the subject. The infidelity of this age, also, which has been 
so stoutly denying a God in human affairs, receives a shock from 
this war. God's people themselves are being strengthened and 
purified by the wrestlings and searchings of heart through which 
they have been passing. And the people of this land are learn- 
ing, what it has sometimes seemed as if nothing could ever teach 
them, that God is the swift avenger of all such as are oppressed ; 
and that no religion, however sound in doctrine or pleasant in expe- 
rience, can pass with Ilim, unless there be united with it a prac- 
tical righteousness between man and man. Thus is God tightening 
up the girdle that had begun to hang loose about His church in this 
land. And although it seems like an incongruous agency, war, 
by which to estabhsh the gospel of peace, the Psalmist of old 
tells us, how "kings of armies do flee apace," when "God 
gave his word" to the great company that Avas to pubUsh it. 
And if this war era shall be wound up by such an outpouring of 
the Holy Ghost, as followed immediately upon the Revolutionary 
struggle, and as even attended the old French war in 1740, reli- 
gion will be established among us, more glorious in her purity, 
and settled more firmly in her power than ever before ! " When 
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall 
lift up a standard against him." 

2. By this war God is making this nation strong. "VVe have 
discovered how much we need to be strong by the attitude of for- 
eign powers towards us since the beginnmg of our troubles. We 
could not have been made to believe, but for the experience wo 
have had, that the European governments were regarding us 
with so unfriendly an eye. Dear old mother England, we \>ar- 
ticularly doted on. And when her heir apparent stepped upon 
our shores, we met him Avith demonstrations of cordiality, Avhich 
rivaled even the greetings of his own people in a neighboring 
province. But this war has shown us that the crowned heads 
c 



18 

and cabinet ministers of the old world have no love for us ; that 
they regard such a government as ours as a kind of disturbing 
cause in human affairs, to be removed and abated at the earliest 
opportunity ; and like the children of Edom in the day of Jeru- 
salem's calamity, they have not ceased, under the thin guise of 
neutrality, to cry out since this nation fell into these troubles, 
"Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!" And the 
most recent dispatches from across the sea reveal the fact that but 
for the reluctance of Russia, England and France would long since 
have been " actively cooperating" to render the present rebellion 
successful, and to prevent us from pushing on this war to a final 
restoration of the Union ! We have need to be strong ! 

And there have been among us hitherto some elements of 
weakness. The great breadth of our territory, and the ambition 
to extend it still further, the unparalleled heterogeneousness of 
our population, and that love of personal independence, which 
is our national passion, have been so many centrifugal forces among 
us, against which there has been no sufficient counterbalancing ; 
and the additional anomaly of a slave population has been a 
source of much division of sentiment among ourselves and the 
occasion of no little prejudice against us abroad. It was high 
time to check this territorial expansion. It was time to have these 
heterogeneous populations melted and run into one mold. It was 
time to turn the national passion in the direction of government 
and law. And it was time to do something with slavery. In 
order to be strong, we needed to be, in all these respects, more 
compact. And this war, under God, is making us so. 

Territorial expansion we have mutually agreed to adjourn till 
after the war. Buying Cuba and filibustering in Central America 
are schemes not just now much talked of. Even the legitimate 
progress of emigration westward has been arrested ; the advance 
guard along the prairies and forests has halted, and the pickets, 
stretching away up into the country of the Sioux, have been 
driven in. For a good while to come this nation will probably be 
satisfied to retain what territory we now own, and to cultivate 
what soil we have now settled. 

At the same time our diverse populations are being blended 
into one. Men who bear arms under the same banner, fight for 
the same country and cause, and mingle their blood on the same 
battle fields, will not long remember or care whether they were 



19 

born upon the banks of the Shannon or the Rhine, whether they 
first breathed the air of Europe or America. Cast into this glow- 
ing crucible, those elements of character which are worthiest 
in all the nations whence our population has come, ■will be fused 
together ; and the dross, much of it, will be purged away. It is a 
settled ethnological law, that races of men are always invigorated 
by the infusion of new elements, provided they can be well assim- 
ilated ; and as there never were so many new elements thrown in 
upon a race as have been thrown in upon tliis Anglo-American 
population, and are being molten into one mass in these fires, so if 
we only come safely out of it, Avill the Anglo-American character 
stand preeminent among the peoples of the earth. The new Unwn 
to be here formed, like the Corinthian brass, which rivaled gold 
itself in its brilliancy, Avill be both stronger and more beautiful than 
any one of the original elements of which it was composed ; and 
God will give it a casting into the sacred vessels and lofty pillars 
that shall garnish and support his own great temple among men. 
As to our passion for individual independence, this rebellion 
has, in some sense, been a natural out-growth of it, even as this 
war is a reaction against it. For taking the principle of self-gov- 
ernment, as it has been ofteuest stated among us, we could 
neither have denied the right of a State to secede fronr the 
Xation, nor even an individual to secede from the State. The 
doctrine had gi'own too rank. Its roots were upheaving the foun- 
dations of all government. Its tendrils were piercing every seam 
and crevice in our constitution. It was time it received a whole- 
some pruning. 

And God is giving it such a pruning by this Avar. The regard 
of our vast population is being rapidly centered upon the govern- 
ment. Individual institutions and state institutions are being 
solidly massed into that grand unit — the Nation. Secession, 
against Avhich it Avas at first said Ave had no defence, though it 
Avas a very naughty thing, has been sifted, analyzed, stripjjed of 
its disguises, and by the united voice of the loyalty of the land, 
pronounced rebellion. And coercion, — that term against which 
there rose such a protest at the beginning of these troubles — has 
been studied, tried and tested by the best judicial talent of the 
country, and pronounced the administration of the hiAVs of the 
land, according to oath of ofiice. We have taken a lesson 
from a law higher than the constitution, — even the laAv of geo- 



20 

graphical necessity, and have found tliat the .setting np of an 
independent government by any State, or com])ination of States, 
on this Union soil, conld not be tolerated, even if Ave desired it. 
God made the land for the possession of one nation, and took the 
precantion that that nation should not be divided without destroy- 
ing itself. The human frame itself is not more a unit, by virtue 
of its spinal column and its system of arteries, than this land is a 
unit by the mountain ranges that pass from North to South, and 
the mighty rivers tliat trench the earth in the same direction. 
That hand that built up the AUeganies and scooped out the val- 
ley of the Mississippi, is lifted up with a perpetual menace against 
the dissolution of this Union. 

It is astonishing how rapidly these lessons are being learned. 
And I can think of no sublimer spectacle that mere human history 
has ever presented, than the uprising of this people to fulfill this 
high purpose of God. And I take it as one reason" why God has 
suffered us to feel sometimes that the government was not so 
energetic as it ought to be, and that our great military prepara- 
tions were being frittered away for the Avant of executive pur- 
pose, is to cure us forever of our excessive jealousy of authority 
and law, to make us cry out in very agony for that vigorous and 
centralizing force which Ave had alAA^ays despised, and to have us 
rivet these States together Avith bolts of steel. 

And so has he done finally Avith the only other element of 
Aveakness among us, — negro slavery. For call slavery AA-hat you 
will, — a good to be cherished, or an evil to be got rid of, or a 
tertiuni quid^ that is neither good nor bad, — one fact remains 
beyond contradiction. It has been the source of the widest 
division of sentiment, of the most rancorous bitterness of feel- 
ing, and of all that sectional jealousy Avhich has culminated in the 
present state of afi:airs. Call it a sin for AA'hich God is visiting us, 
or call it only a AvatcliAVord, cunningly employed by the leaders 
of the rebellion, or call it a sort of political Avindmiil against 
Avhich northern fanaticism has run the nation a-tilt, — here stands the 
fact before the world, the slaA-e States of this Union, and no others, 
are in rebellion against the government, and the strength of that 
rebellion is graduated in each of these States precisely to the slave 
interest therein. Take your choice of the three theories — I take 
mine ; but the facts are clear. By some means or other, slavery 
has been an element of division and discord, and so, of course, of 



21 

great weakness in this rei)ublie. Antl when shivery shall die, 
almost the last pretext will be annihilated, on whieh any poi-tion 
of our population could be led to make war on the government 
of this land. 

And slavery stands before us to-day smitten of the hand of 
destiny. From the very outset of these troubles tliere has been a 
steady friction and abrasion of that institution about the extremi- 
ties. Even when our army formed, as some thought, a kind of 
police force, the more eftectively to prevent the escape of fuo-i- 
tives, and to return them to their dear masters, it kept suffering. 
When the term contraband was brought out, a vein was opened 
from which it has ever since been bleeding. When emancipation 
was declared in the District of Columbia, a blow was dealt upon 
its head. The vigorous measures taken against the foreign slave 
trade, coupled with the state of things which, since the war broke 
out, has prevailed in Virginia, has measurably cut off its new 
supplies. And the President's proclamation of freedom has 
aimed a last stab at its heart. I do not pretend here to say 
whether all this has been according to the constitution or not — or 
even whether it has been right or not : some things are so mean 
that I do not believe God will even let them be killed by any 
righteous measures. I only point you to facts. And in these facts 
I see the hand of Providence writing in characters that need no 
interpreter, across the iron wall of the slave's great prison-house 
in this land, " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." Right or wrono-, 
the institution is going to die. By fair means and constitutional 
means and wise means, — or by bad means and revolutionary 
means and dangerous means, — one or the other, God Almighty 
has struck the monster between its ten horns, and it is stao-ger- 
ing m its blood ! Even so. Amen, let it die ! And let no one 
lament for it, saying, " Ah, my brother ! or Ah, my sister ! Ah, 
lord ! or Ah, his glory," but let it be buried — " Avith the burial 
of an ass — drawn forth and cast beyond the gates of Jerusalem." 

This nation needs to be strong ; and the last great element of 
iiiternal weakness is being destroyed. And coming out of this 
struggle Avith clean hands, and brave hearts, and a great army, 
we shall be ready to invite either England or France, or both at 
once, to come and talk over with us any little matters that may 
have gone wrong in the confusion of these times. 



22 

We must not consider it strange, that in order to accomplish 
these kind purposes toward us, the good Father should have 
passed us through a season of trial and alarm. Those blessings 
which cost little are never prized as they ought to be, and there 
is something in human nature which requires that in order to 
reap the greatest benefits, we should be made to struggle and to 
suffer and to wait. And they who understand this, and have 
observed the divine economy with man, can say, " We glory in 
tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and 
patience experience, and experience hope." 

I have sometinies stood, at a pleasanter season of the year than 
this, on one of the heights that overlook this green valley, and 
been deeply impressed with the scene of quiet loveliness before 
me. Yonder, great meadows lay outspread in their fatness. In 
another direction, orchards Avere in blossom, or bending beneath 
their mellow treasure. Here cattle were grazing along the moist 
pasture grounds. There, cliildren were at play. In the midst of 
all stood the clustering homes of this beautiful city ; and in the 
far distance, hill rising above hill in a broad emerald terrace-work, 
met and kissed the blue sky that was spread over us like the man- 
tle of God. 

Such a scene may be witnessed here now, on any pleasant sum- 
mer day. But sixty years ago, this valley presented a different 
appearance. The primitive forests stood along these slopes and 
lowlands, striped here and there with jagged windfalls. The 
river went twisting through the miasmatic marshes like a green 
serpent crawling among the bogs and the rushes. And the scream 
of the panther and the whoop of the savage, gave accordant voice 
to the scene. 

What made the change ? What rescued these fields from that 
primitive roughness ? What built these homes and paved these 
streets, and pierced this far interior country with the Imes of a 
prosperous trade and travel ? I answer, there had to be a war. 
Men came here and began a work of coercion. They laid at these 
forests with axe and fire. They tore up this soil with harrow and 
l)low. Destruction and construction went hand in hand. Wild 
nature came under subjugation. And so far from revolting from 
the dominion as if her conquest had been her curse, every summer 
she now puts on some new robe of beauty, in which to present 



23 

herself to her lords, and yields up her treasures and her charms 
with a smile. 

And such shall be the story which some gray haired patriarch 
shall tell to his sons sixty years hence concerning the troubles of 
this land. Standing beneath the folds of that starry flag, whose 
sacredness shall have been vindicated, surrounded by fruitful 
f ul fields, teeming cities and gigantic thoroughfares, and beholding 
in the distance the ships of a commerce that vexes every sea, he 
shall say : 

Once this scene was different from what you now behold. This 
flag was dishonored, this nation was trembling on the verge of 
fuin, and the foreign powers on whose friendship avc had calcu- 
lated, like the Jews at the Cross of our Savior, were shouting 
"Aha! Aha!" 

And when he is asked what made the change from those sad 
days when men could see no " bright light " in the clouds, to the 
golden sunshine that now bathes the hills and valleys of the land, 
he will answer : 

There had to be a war. When the flag was dishonored there 
was one wild uprising to defend the constitution and the laws of 
which it was the symbol. There were giants in those days — men of 
renown — and they stood together, or fell side by side, nobly fight- 
ing for their native land. Brave mothers were there, who, with 
all the Spartan courage, sanctified and sustained by Christian faith, 
kissed their almost beardless boys when the times looked dark, and 
sent them forth. Old men brought down their trusty Revolu- 
tionary firelocks, and said to their grandsons, " Here, defend the 
liberties which we won for you at Bunker Hill and Saratoga, at 
Trenton and at Yorktown. Sisters and sweethearts plucked from 
their arms their brothers and lovers, and buckled on their sword- 
belts and said, " by all the love you bear us, and by the greater 
love of God, defend your native land." And they fought, and 
bore fatigues and delays that were more dangerous and more 
dreadful than fighting, and though it seemed at times as if every- 
thing were lost, they never gave up. They said to proud England 
and to ambitious France, " stand back," and they dared not cross 
the sea. They said to the rebellious States submit, and with the 
best grace possible they at length submitted. Along the northern 
curtain of that gloomy day, there shone a stripe of golden weather. 



24 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



Mil 933 374 P( 



And the curtain lifted, and God smiled, and the soldiery cast 
down their implements of war, as something for which there was 
no more use, and the people fell upon their knees and whispered, 
" Victory, Peace and Praise." 



